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ADT to close Bradenton, Fla., monitoring center

BRADENTON, Fla. - ADT Security Services will close its monitoring center here on or around Nov. 30. The move will affect 400 employees, who will receive severance packages and outplacement services from the company.

The main reason for the closure, according to Jay Stuck, vice president of residential marketing and corporate communications, was the potential cost of bringing the technology in the Bradenton center up to the level of ADTÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s other five centers.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“As part of the ongoing evaluation of our service needs, it became apparent that the center itself was not as technologically efficient in terms of providing levels of service as the other current monitoring centers that ADT has,Ã¢â‚¬Â Stuck said. Ã¢â‚¬Å“Rather than make the kind of investment necessary in upgrading the infrastructure at the facility, we took a look at what the current needs of the customer base and it became obvious that we can adequately service our current customer needs now and for several years in the future based on the network that we have in place and based on the efficiencies that the other facilities have in terms of technology, optimization and manpower.Ã¢â‚¬Â

ADT acquired the two-story, 101,000-square-foot monitoring center in 2001 as part of parent company Tyco InternationalÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s purchase of SecurityLink and other security businesses from Cambridge Protection Industries. At the time, about 650 people were employed in the facility.

Stuck said monitoring of customer accounts will continue at its five remaining centers across the country. ADT also said services to its customers would go uninterrupted during the change.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“The ADT centers are highly automated. Right now, our centers are able to handle well in excess of 35 million alarm signals annually,Ã¢â‚¬Â he said. Ã¢â‚¬Å“Over the years, the company has made a large investment in building the necessary infrastructure at our monitoring centers.Ã¢â‚¬Â

Stuck said a small number of employees would be offered relocation opportunities at ADTÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s other centers.

In terms of future growth, ADT may need to open additional monitoring centers in the future, Stuck said, but any decision on that front is a long way off.

Ã¢â‚¬Å“Given the projection in terms of our sales growth, given the potential just in terms of the marketplace, we believe that a new facility may be necessary sometime after the next three or four years,Ã¢â‚¬Â he said.